1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and a device for setting or maintaining a preferential condition for a mobile terminal when the mobile terminal is involved in a communication with a remote telecommunication device.
2. Discussion of the Background
Wireless cellular telecommunication networks are largely deployed but there are still some areas not covered by the base stations of the wireless cellular telecommunication network.
For example, the access to the wireless cellular telecommunication network might not be possible for a mobile terminal located in a building, if the signals radiated by the base stations are too attenuated.
Solutions are proposed today. Particular base stations, like home base stations or femto base stations provide coverage areas within the buildings.
These home base stations enable a limited number of mobile terminals to access the wireless cellular telecommunication network through their respective resources in order to maintain the quality of service offered by the home base stations to their mobile terminals or to provide the desired service to their mobile terminals or both. The mobile terminals allowed to access the resources of the network through the home base station may be determined by the owner of the home base station, the network or a combination of both.
The owner must be understood here in the general sense: the owner may only be the main user of the home base station, the owner may be the person who rents the home base station from telecommunication operator and uses the operator's network or the owner may be the person who installs the home base station in his house or office.
For example, only mobile terminals of the owner of the home base station and his family can access to the wireless cellular telecommunication network through the home base station. These mobile terminals are associated with the home base station.
When a mobile terminal is associated to a base station, the mobile terminal accesses the wireless cellular telecommunication network in order to establish a communication with a remote communication device under preferential condition. The preferential condition is for example, a preferential charging policy for given service or preferential services or both.
Other mobile terminals cannot access to the wireless cellular telecommunication network through the home base station. The other mobile terminals are not associated with the home base station.
When the mobile terminals which are not associated to the home base station are close to the home base station, the home base station generates interferences either in the downlink and/or uplink channels which exist between these mobile terminals and the base station they are associated with or with a macro base station of the wireless cellular telecommunication network.
One solution for the reduction of the interference over these mobile terminals is to reduce the signal transmission power of the home base station. Such technique is commonly named ICIC (Inter Cell Interference Coordination procedure).
That power reduction reduces the coverage area of home base stations and this coverage reduction may lower the Quality of Service, may generate service interruption, drop calls for active mobile terminals associated to the home base station and service unavailability for idle mobile terminals associated to the home base station.